


Why'd You Take The Car Out

by I_write_fanfiction_sometimes



Series: The 'Keys' Series [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Ending, Angst, Blood, Car Accidents, Death, Injury, Love Confessions, M/M, No Fluff, Not A Happy Ending, seriously if you're looking for a happy ending look away and read the first installment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 11:23:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11850549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_write_fanfiction_sometimes/pseuds/I_write_fanfiction_sometimes
Summary: Alternate ending!!Takes place after second chapter in ASMK and I recommend you read that first as otherwise this makes zero sense.This is what happens when you don't call quickly enough.





	Why'd You Take The Car Out

  
The sound of Percy slamming the door echos through Jason's small house.  
His lips tingle and his heart hurts.  
Everything is too quiet. He suddenly needs to talk to someone.  
The harsh white light from his phone glares mockingly at him.  
_One missed call_  
_One Voicemail_  
It tells him.  
He taps the little one.  
“ _Hey Jas,_  
_It's Reyna, things have been really heating up in New Rome and I could really use someone's help,”_ Reyna's voice comes through the phone distractedly.  
“ _If you or Percy could stop by and help me put some fear of authority in everyone I'd be very grateful,”_ her voice pauses, suddenly small.  
_“I know you're very busy in your own head, even if you won't tell me why, and I would like to see you soon even if you can't make it.”_  
Jason sighs. He knows he'd been distant lately, distracted, and he wishes he knew why.  
All the urge to talk to someone is gone now. He doesn't even know what he'd say.  
He sinks down onto his couch and puts his head in his hands.  
Jason doesn't know what to think about anything, he doesn't know what to think of Percy's kiss, or his own thoughts, or the way Piper looks at him like she's waiting for him to realize _something_.  
Everything is sticky and unrecognizable in the summer heat.  
*****  
Percy doesn't want to stop, tears blur his vision and he's racing along the road at a frighteningly fast speed, but he just wants as far away as he can get.  
He can't get the look on Jason's face out of his head. The surprise on it, like everything he knew had been turned on it's head.  
Percy didn't want to be the reason someone's world was destroyed. He'd actually done that, literally, to many times. Percy just wanted someone to love him like he'd thought him and Annabeth loved each other. In the end they'd both been too scarred by their time in Hell. They just hadn't worked anymore. Sweet coffee dates and chaste kisses didn't work when they'd both seen the other past their worst. But the change in the love between them had been the hardest.  
He wanted that back.  
Percy had been trying to make due with the platonic warmth of Jason beside him in his life, but it seems that his body hates him.  
His phone buzzes from where he tossed in the passenger seat and he looks over at it.  
He completely misses the glare of red in front of him.  
*****  
Jason had finally called Percy, to make sure he was okay, and to see if Jason could fix anything. He wanted to give Percy everything. How couldn't you, with his eyes and his smile and his fatal flaw of loyalty.  
Percy didn't pick up.  
Jason wasn't exactly surprised, he knew that Percy was probably beating himself up for ruining their friendship. It was after the next three calls that Jason started to get worried.  
They had a rule. If anyone in the group called three times in a row you had to pick up. It was serious. Percy had made up that rule. He never _never_ broke it.  
Jason calls Annabeth next, if anyone knows where Percy is, it's her.  
Jason is nearly frantic by the time Annabeth picks up. He knows he's probably overreacting but he can't help the worry he feels.  
“Jason?” Annabeth's tinny voice calls from the other end of the phone.  
Jason realizes that he's spaced out. He hadn't done that in a while.  
“Yeah,” he takes breath, “have you seen Percy?”  
“What happened?” Annabeth asks sharply.  
She hasn't seen him then.  
“He kissed me,” Jason mutters quietly.  
“Is that a bad thing?”  
He can practically see the frown Annabeth is wearing.  
“I- I'm not sure yet,” Jason mumbles.  
“Shouldn't you be calling him?” she asks, graciously allowing him an escape.  
The worry is back full blast now.  
“He's not picking up,” his voice rises, “I've called him four times.”  
Annabeth knows what this means.  
“Piper!” he hears her call, “call Percy for me please hon!”  
They wait in silence while Piper calls.  
“He's not picking up,” Piper concludes in a disbelieving voice.  
Jason and Annabeth both draw in sharp breaths. It's not like Percy to abandon his friends.  
“You should call him too,” Piper tells Annabeth.  
“Yeah,” Jason feels her attention back on him, “I'm going to hang up and call Percy okay?”  
“Yeah,” Jason confirms a bit breathlessly.  
The dial tone sounds.  
It's only a minute later when his phone rings again. He scrambles to pick it up.  
“Percy?” he asks hopefully.  
He hears a sniffle on the other end of the line and frowns.  
“I- who is this?” he asks, realizing he forgot to check the caller ID.  
“Oh Jason,” a woman's voice cracks.  
“Sally?” Jason asks with a sense of foreboding.  
“They don't know if they can save him,” she openly sobs.  
“Who! Save who!” Jason shakes his head like it can protect him from what he knows is coming.  
“Percy,” Sally's voice is almost indistinguishable, but Jason hears that one word like it had been recited clearly at a spelling bee.  
“No,” he breaths.  
*****  
There are bright lights everywhere and pain along every inch of his body.  
Percy doesn't know if he's ever felt worse.  
He can barely see out his eyes, they're so sticky with something he assumes is blood.  
He can't breathe.  
*****  
Jason hangs up as soon as he can, he doesn't want to hear Percy's mother cry anymore, knowing that he's at least partially at fault here.  
He calls Piper, not sure if he could handle telling Annabeth.  
“Did you get a hold of him yet?” Piper asks immediately.  
Jason chokes on his next words.  
“He's got into a car crash,” he finally manages to get out before the tears come hot and heavy.  
Piper doesn't say anything for a moment, and Annabeth must be near her because Jason can hear her ask what's wrong.  
“How bad,” Piper asks without answering Annabeth.  
“He's dying Pipes,” Jason forces out.  
Piper lets out a single broken breath before hanging up on him.  
Jason is out into his car before he realizes he's moved.  
He drives more carefully than he normally would, can't have two demigods in Emergency no matter how much he wouldn't mind joining Percy.  
His soul hurts, knowing what he could have done to stop this if he hadn't been scared. Because he loves Percy, he really does, but he was too afraid of change to do anything about it.  
So he drives carefully to the hospital and prepares what he's going to say.  
Percy will live, he has to.  
*****  
Percy can feel the liquid in his lungs and can't help but laugh inside at the irony of him drowning. It's blood, there's blood everywhere. Percy can sense it all, he can feel it slowing down in his own veins as his heart stutters.  
He never thought that this would be how he died.  
He wishes that he could tell Jason he loved him. Even if he didn't reply, Percy would know that he knew and that might have been enough.  
His heart stops, he feels it stop, the blood that's pouring out of him slows and everything is almost peaceful.  
It hurts, because of course it does, he always knew it would.  
He doesn't think there's words to describe the way it feels to feel his lungs get heavier and his very blood stop in his body.  
There's a voice in his head telling him he's proud and sorry. Percy would cry if he could at his father's words, but he's long since lost the ability to control his limbs.  
People are making a racket around him as they try to save him, but he already knows it's useless. He knows how much he can take, and this is not it.  
Percy wants to fight for his life, for his friends, but he can already feel his soul separating from his body.  
Nico waits for him when he steps into the shadow realm.  
“I wasn't sure if I would actually see you,” he tells Percy in an offhand sort of way, but Percy can see tears glinting in his eyes, “this was the least likely path.”  
“I loved you,” Percy proclaims suddenly, “I don't know if you knew that.”  
Nico looks down at his feet, smiling wetly.  
“You just never loved me the same way I loved you,” he chuckles wryly.  
“I'm sorry,” Percy says sincerely, “I never wished to hurt you.”  
“It's distant past Percy,” Nico says gently, “besides, I have Will now, and I'm sure you would have had Jason.”  
Percy meets Nico's eyes intently.  
“You'll tell him for me won't you?” he asks, suddenly desperate.  
Nico nods.  
“I will,” he reassures, “we should go.”  
Percy nods back.  
Nico grips Percy's arm and they disappear.  
*****  
Jason is nearly at the hospital when he gets the call.  
“He loved you,” Is all Nico, his voice suspiciously raspy, before he hangs up agian.  
Jason pulls over.  
This wasn't the ending he wanted.  
Percy was never supposed to leave before he could say it back.  
_I love you_  
_I love you_  
_I love you._  
And the world continued on.

**Author's Note:**

> SORRY SORRY SORRY  
> drag me in the comments PLEASE


End file.
